1. Technical Field
The subject invention relates to tote box style containers of the type used to inventory and distribute loose or broken case items and soft goods. More specifically, the invention relates to tote boxes which may be stacked one on top of another during shipping or inventorying of goods and which may be nested when empty.
2. Description Of The Prior Art
The subject invention is directed toward a tote box used primarily to inventory and distribute broken case items and soft goods. At the manufacturing and distributor level, many goods are inventoried in cases or larger quantities. A customer or retail outlet for the manufacturer or distributor may require various goods but in quantities less than the smallest number inventoried in bulk by the manufacturer or distributor. The manufacturer or distributor may have many customers or retail outlets in this position.
In order to streamline the inventorying and shipping process, distributors and manufacturers alike may employ containers commonly referred to as tote boxes. Tote box type containers may be shipped each containing a certain quantity of a product. At each customer or retail outlet, the desired quantity of goods may be selected from any given container and left with the customer or retail outlet.
Containers of this type include a base, a pair of sidewalls and a pair of end walls extending upwardly from the base to define an interior of the container. Tote box containers also include a pair of lids hingedly connected to the upper portion of each of the sidewalls and which are moveable from a closed position precluding access to the interior of the container and an open position where the lids hang down in a substantially vertical orientation adjacent the sidewalls on the exterior of the container.
The tote boxes are generally stackable, one on another, when the lids are closed and nestable when open. As such, a tractor trailer may be shipped full of products in containers, stacked one upon another. When the containers are empty, they may be nested taking up much less of the capacity of the tractor trailer. The remaining shipping space may be used to haul manufactured goods back to a distribution point.
Examples of such containers can be found in U.S. Pat. No. RE 33,384 reissued to Miller et al. on Oct. 16, 1990 and directed toward a Nesting Box With Reduced Lid Flare; U.S. Pat No. RE 32,966 reissued to Miller et al. on Jun. 27, 1989 and directed toward a Tote Box; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,620,644 issued to Miller on Nov. 4, 1986 and directed toward a Tote Box With Lid Container.
Because they are reusable, stackable and nestable, tote box containers are fast replacing corrugated cardboard type boxes as the most cost effective shipping container of many goods. However, as the popularity of these types of containers increase, they are employed to inventory and ship an ever growing list of products. Tote box containers are thus subjected to ever increasing loads during shipping and inventorying. Tote box users are concerned about longevity of the containers as a measure of their cost effectiveness. The longer they last, the more money saved by the user. Many prior art containers of this type were not designed to function under these loads. This has resulted in container failures, especially at the lid and lid-hinge interface.